Best of Boston

Each January, aspiring brain-benders descend on MIT for a multiday, many-puzzle affair in which they’re charged with cracking cryptograms, summoning trivia nuggets, and making sense out of seemingly random objects—all in the span of a weekend. Launched in 1981, Mystery Hunt has become a global puzzle-solving event, with teams recruiting help from all over the world to maximize their brainpower. But its specialty-spanning combination of knowledge and frivolity makes it distinctly Cantabrigian.